Intentions to Marry, 1909 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840439, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 020

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1909 Registrar J. Culpan

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

18 January 1909

William Thomas Niscon
Clara Hollinger

William Thomas Nixon
Clara Hollinger
💍 1909/649

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

26
23

Auckland
Auckland

10 days
23 years

House of Father of Bride, Ararua

09/519

18 January 1909

Rev. A. Mac Lean, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Niscon	Clara Hollinger
BDM Match (95%)	William Thomas Nixon	Clara Hollinger
	💍 1909/649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 days	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, Ararua
Folio	09/519
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mac Lean, Presbyterian

18 January 1909

Walter Frederick Butters
Charlotte Sophia Sharp

Walter Frederick Butters
Charlotte Sophia Sharp
💍 1909/342

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 1/2 years
5 years

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

09/181

Hannah Sharp, Mother

18 January 1909

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

No	56
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Frederick Butters	Charlotte Sophia Sharp
	💍 1909/342
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	09/181
Consent	Hannah Sharp, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

18 January 1909

Gordon Elijah Gillman
Florence Essie Town

Gordon Elijah Gillman
Florence Ettie Town
💍 1909/574

Bachelor
Spinster

Sign Writer

23
20

Auckland
Auckland

23 years
20 years

House of Mother of Bride, Parnell

09/467

Alicia Mary Town, Mother

18 January 1909

Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Elijah Gillman	Florence Essie Town
BDM Match (95%)	Gordon Elijah Gillman	Florence Ettie Town
	💍 1909/574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sign Writer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	23 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother of Bride, Parnell
Folio	09/467
Consent	Alicia Mary Town, Mother
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

18 January 1909

Davis Lewis Calwell
Louisa Alberta Brown

Davis Lewis Calwell
Louisa Alberta Brown
💍 1909/291

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
21 years

House of Father of Bride, 49 Grey Street

09/130

18 January 1909

Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Davis Lewis Calwell	Louisa Alberta Brown
	💍 1909/291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bride, 49 Grey Street
Folio	09/130
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist

18 January 1909

Daniel Augustus Lindsay
Cornelia Cothard

Daniel Augustus Lindsay
Cornelia Gothard
💍 1909/229

Bachelor
Divorcee

Dealer

29
33

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
10 years

Registrars Office

09/90

18 January 1909

J. Culpan, Registrar

No	59
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Augustus Lindsay	Cornelia Cothard
BDM Match (97%)	Daniel Augustus Lindsay	Cornelia Gothard
	💍 1909/229
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Dealer
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	09/90
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	J. Culpan, Registrar

18 January 1909

James Irwin
Florence Evelyn Gardiner

James Irwin
Florence Evelyn Gardiner
💍 1909/431

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
20 years

St. Marys Cathedral, Parnell

09/294

John Gardiner, Father

18 January 1909

Rev. G. MacMurray, Anglican

No	60
Date of Notice	18 January 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Irwin	Florence Evelyn Gardiner
	💍 1909/431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Cathedral, Parnell
Folio	09/294
Consent	John Gardiner, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. MacMurray, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).